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David wrote on the House and Senate sending the ‘super committee’ a joint proposal for $23 billion in agriculture program cuts over the next 10 years. “The proposed cuts would come from the following programs: commodities ($15 Billion), conservation ($4 billion), and nutrition/food stamps ($4 billion). If direct payments are ended, legislators will point to high commodity prices as justification.”

David wrote the first of two articles on resistant pigweed control in northeast Arkansas. “Farmers, watching the encroachment of hard-to-kill pigweeds, were anxious ‘to get ahead before it got too bad,’ says Clay County Extension staff chair Andy Vangilder. “And we still have grown-up fields that folks haven’t paid enough attention to. But drive around this northeast Arkansas area and I don’t think there’s anywhere cleaner in the state.”

Ron Smith reported on uncertainty for the future of estate tax exemptions. “Making a living in agriculture comes with a barn-load of unknowns: What’s the weather going to do? How will insect or disease pressure affect productivity? Will the price of cotton in China affect U.S. markets? Add to those another big question mark: What’s the future of estate tax obligations?”

David provided a second story on northeast Arkansas farmers adopting a “zero tolerance” approach to glyphosate-resistant pigweeds. “We’ve really become serious and intent about dealing with this,” says Mike Morgan, who farms large cotton acreage outside Piggott, Ark. “When we see a flush coming on, it’s sprayed. Period. This season, some of the turnrows and ditches in these fields have been sprayed three times. Almost all of them were sprayed twice.”